TEN

We arrived at the ground floor just in time to see the rest of the group leave the building.

"What's--". I was about asking before Kyna grab a hold of my hand and pulls me out of the building excitedly.

"What's going on?" I ask trying to walk faster to keep up with her pace.

"Our Instructor asked us to meet him at the Guilds Forest Reserve." Kyna explains.

"Hey guys!!" Lex yells stopping Kyna in her track allowing me take some breath.

"There's a carriage to take us there." She says and steps into the white and red carriage waiting at the doorstep of the Guild Hall.

Kyna grabs my hand and pulls me into the carriage. The carriage is quite spacious as it could contain up to six people.

"Hey Princess, won't you come in?" Lex asks seeing as she didn't make a move to enter.

"No, I'll meet you guys there." She says smugly.

"Whatever, let's go." Lex taps the coachman and we were on our way to the Guild's Forest Reserve.

"What exactly did you discuss with her upstairs?" Lex asks after a while.

"I asked her if she had anything to do with the arrangement."

"And?"

"She said she tried to stop it, but the Guild Leaders had made up their mind already." I explain.

"I see." Lex nods and looks away.

"You should becareful around them Silver, they're very much crafty." She warns while still looking out the window.

So, this is how it feels to be curious. I wonder what's got everyone so worked up about the royals. I know apart from the fact that they have total control of the Empire, there are still rules and regulations they must abide with, yet everyone acts as though they might be above the law and can do anything to bypass the law without any consequences.

"Your family name, Allen." Kyna says looking at Lex.

"What about it?" Lex asks cocking her eyebrows.

"I've heard of it before but I can't seem to place it." Kyna says.

"Yes and during the duel you said something about Klaus not wanting to your family to have a talk with his. If I remember correctly." I said curious as to why the prince would back down just as he was threatened with her family's name.

"It's Prince Klaus to you." Lex corrects frowning. "My family is part of the ruling family under the Phoenix Empire." She explains then looks away once more.

"And?" I press for more.

"That's just it." She replies unwilling to talk about it.

"You've reached your destination. Phoenix Guild Forest Reserve." The coachman announced in his deep baritone voice.

"Come on." Kyna squeals and grabs a hold of me. Here we go again, when did she get so active.

__________________________

Sounds of groans and coughs could be heard from a warehouse in Shadow City. On looking closer, pass the two buff guys standing guard at the warehouse wielding swords, one could see a man with several scar on his face tied up to the ceiling, his torso bare as blood runs down his lips. He's none other than Braun, who looked as though he's about to pass out anytime soon.

"Fucking royals. You just had to compare balls didn't you?" A 5'8ft tall man with a mohawk and several tattoo of snakes on his body with piercing on his nose asked while cleaning his hands with a bloody handkerchief.

"Boss has asked me to release you but he has given you a job." He says as he lowers himself into a torn black leather rocking chair.

"Are you listening?" He asks, Braun nods slowly still dangling from the ropes.

"Very well, I heard the Prince came to give a job. So you'll be in charge of carrying out the job." He reaches for a glass of water on the table beside him and finished it in a gulp.

"Boss wants a clean job. The child's head must be delivered before midnight. Understood?" He asked stepping up to face Braun.

"Yes s-ir." Braun groan out.

"Good. Get yourself healed up and head out." He taps Braun's cheek twice and walks out of the warehouse just as Braun gets help down from the ropes by the guards in the warehouse.

______________________

"We've been here for over thirty minutes. Where's the damn instructor?" Princess Zita asked frustrated.

"How do you expect me to know? I'm waiting with you." I reply, while she rolls her eyes and growls angrily.

"Guys!" Kyna yells from some distance deep in the forest.

"[Inherent Skill: Spatial Travel] [Spatial Jump]"

Lex quickly grabs hold of me just as a blue light envelops us and in a flash we were beside Kyna ready to fight.

"What happened?" Lex asked, tensed and ready.

Princess Zita flies in, with a burst of flame, landing beside me.

"How could you just leave me like that?!" She yells at Lex.

"Didn't feel the need to take you along." Lex replies.

"Guys! Who's that?" Kyna points at a man sleeping under a tree with his brown hat covering his face and hands on his chest.

"What kind of guy sleeps in such a dangerous forest so peacefully?" Lex asks taking a cautious step towards him.

"Is he dead?" Kyna asks.

He doesn't seem to be, I can detect his pulse from here and he's very much alive. He is also very strong as the aura pulsing out of him is keeping any wild animal from coming close to him.

"He's very much alive." I report.

"Sir!" Lex yells at him from a distance trying to wake him up.

"We didn't come here for this." Princess Zita complains, hands on her hip, frowning in anger.

"Yes mummy." The man rolls to his side talking in his sleep.

I take a stone from the floor and throw it at his head which effectively woke him up.

"That was rude." Lex says frowning at me, I shrug and smile.

"Very rude indeed." The man says rubbing his head. He slowly gets up, rising to an height of approximately 5'9, his brown eyes giving off a shade of gold under the sunlight, he dusts his brown coat and puts his brown hat upon his black hair.

"My name is Silus and I assume you're the group three I'll be in-charge of, seeing as you're four in number instead of the traditional three." He introduces himself.

"Yes we are. Apologies for waking you up rudely." Kyna bows down slightly.

"Well not really. I mean he kept us waiting." Princess Zita says rudely.

"Apology accepted Princess." Silus replies sarcastically which made Princess Zita frown.

"Can I meet you?" He asks generally.

"I'm Lex Allen." Lex introduces herself.

"Allen yeah? How's the Duchess?"

"Very well sir."

"My greetings to her." He smiles and turns to look at Kyna.

"I'm Kyna Faeborn." Kyna introduces herself smiling.

"A beastkin in the guild. Never thought it'll still happen at this age and time. Pleasure to meet you little warrior." Silus comments causing Kyna to blush.

"Silver. Silver Gold." I introduce myself briskly.

"Hmm strong names you've got there. Heard you gave the prince and princess a run for their money." He teases.

"I don't think that's appropriate Instructor." Princess Zita said angrily.

"I decide what's appropriate princess. If you have any complains meet the Guild Leaders." Silus reprimands, stepping up to her.

Sparks of flames escapes her fingers as her level 8 aura flared up. Silus remains unmoving and neutral at the display until it calms down.

"Very well. I would like to give you a test." Silus announced addressing everyone.

"In a group there must be a leader. So I'll be pitting you four against each other in a classic rumble match. The winner gets to be the leader." He said and steps back to rest against the tree behind him.

"Any rules?" Lex asks excited to fight seeing a shadow of smile on her face.

"Don't kill each other." He says smiling. "Let the rumble begin!"

We all moved some distance away from each other, circling each other waiting for the first person to make a move.

I look to my left and see Kyna opposite Lex, in order of strength Kyna is the weakest in reality since I'm way above any of them in strength, but to everyone else I'm the weakest cause I have the lowest level. Kyna and I may be in the same level but she has been in her level way longer than I have which means she could break through the next level anytime soon while I'm just building on my level.

"[Fireball]". A huge fireball was launched at me signifying the start of the fight. I jumped out of the way just as the fireball flew pass me exploding upon contact with the ground.

"[Meteor Fist]". Out of nowhere, Princess Zita launched her fire engulfed fist at me. I side-stepped evading the punch by a small margin.

She spins, swinging her elbow at me which I ducked under and jumped back to gain distance. It's quite stressful restricting yourself, I thought to myself.

"[Wind Blade]". I throw several wind blades at her which she evaded. She jumps up dodging the last wind Blade and raises her hand above her head, a huge ball of fire was forming between her hand, her eyes was glowing deep purple as her level 8 power streams out of her and she throws the huge ball down at me.

"[Inherent Skill: Phoenix Princess] [Phoenix Mini Sun]."

The smaller version of the fireball that almost destroyed the arena flies down at me.

"[Reinforced Air Shield]." Several layers of air barrier forms a dome around me just as the huge sun like fireball hits causing a huge explosion that caves the ground beneath me.

Princess Zita smiles as smoke filled the area, I was safe though, that sort of attack couldn't put a scratch on me but any other person would be burn to crisp by now.

"[Inherent Skill: Spatial Travel] [Spatial Jump]".

"Hello Princess." Lex voice came out through the smoke and a flash of bright blue light appeared infront of Princess Zita, before she could react a fist was launched at her face sending her flying back.

She turns to look at me just as the smoke clears and brings out her blue twin jagged daggers then throws them at me.

"[Spatial Switch]". I raise my dagger to block the incoming daggers but they suddenly disappeared or rather got replaced by Lex whose fist were coming at me.

Not this time Lex, I grab her arm and spin around turning my back to her then throw her over my shoulder. She flips mid air and lands infront of a tree.

"[Wind Wrath: Devourer]". I created a powerful needle like storm encased in a ball of air surrounded by fan-like wind blades then throw it at her.

"What the ?!. [Spatial Jump]". She quickly teleports away from there just as the attack hits destroying the tree.

"[Compressed air]." I hear Kyna voice as she attacks Lex.

"[Phoenix Dragon]." An exquisite dragon over 11ft long with purple scales and scaly wings dived at me, mouth open ready to engulf me. The killing intent pouring from the dragon's attack was enough to make animals in the surrounding pass out.

I never thought I'll be forced to use my chosen inherent Skill this early but if I don't this whole forest could get destroyed and Silus doesn't seem to want to stop this, seeing as he's just sitting on top of the tree peering down at me as if trying to figure me out.

"[Inherent Skill: Aether Manipulation] [Aether bomb]." I flick the air sending a tiny ball of condensed aether through the air which caused surrounding air particles to vibrate at insane speed then they light up in a huge explosion that destroyed the dragon and several meters of the surrounding, sending everyone flying back including me.

Just as I thought the chaos had ended with that attack, I heard a soft footstep and see Kyna although injured running silently towards Princess Zita who was still trying to get up.

"[Inherent Skill: Paralysis] [Total Paralysis]." Just before Princess Zita could react she managed to hit her chest paralysing her totally.

"Well-done." Silus comments and carries Princess Zita away from the destroyed forest to somewhere safer I guess.

"[Spatial Switch]." I look behind Kyna and see one of Lex's dagger shine a bright blue light.

"Kyna watch out!". I yell but it was too late as Lex had already switched with the blade and sent a punch towards Kyna effectively knocking her out.

"She's quite strong. She managed to injure me while you were facing the princess." Lex said as she hands Kyna over to Silus who was waiting beside her, then wraps a bandage around her shoulder which was bleeding.

"Now it's down to us. You seem tired from the last attack." Lex said taking out her dagger.

"Seems the princess really wanted to end me." I say slowly getting up.

"Guess I'll have to help her with that." Lex smiles bouncing her dagger on her hand.

"How about we end this in one strike?". I ask.

"Very well. Strongest attack?"

"Strongest attack." I agree.

"[Spatial Anomaly]." A loud breaking sound echoed through the air and it seems as though a hole through space was broken and Lex was holding it.

Her eyes were pure black as she holds a shattered part of space, the space radiated power up almost close to the level of the Phoenix Dragon.

I smile seeing the skill, well since everyone is going all out I better bring out the big guns.

"[Aether's Oblivion]." Using one of the gods favourite skill. I channel the power of all elements into an orb then surround the orb with aether which sent out cackles of lightning that sent anything it touched to nothingness.

"Ready?". I ask.

"Ready!" She yells.

We both charge towards each other and sent our skills flying towards each other testing might and dominance. The *Space Anomaly* wrapped around the orb threatening to swallow it whole along with everything in it's path but the Aether is the most destructive energy in the universe and it'll implode on itself if threatened by anything at all.

The orb glowed brighter in my hand and rips through my clothes taking off my sleeves then like a beating heart it sent a wave of energy at Lex taking her off balance and with a mushroom cloud explosion Lex was blasted back with full force.

I watch as a card fly through the air and got attached to her back as she flies unconscious through the air.

"[Inherent Skill: Game of Cards] [Queen's Embrace]". A bright purple glow emitted from the card and it created a shield that protected her from the impact with the ground.

I fall to the ground feigning weakness. Silus walks over to me holding a card in hand and a smirk on his face.

"Impressive Silver. Really impressive." He comments. If he's thinking of something, he's not showing it and I don't want to pry as it'll spoil the surprise.

"Congratulations new leader." He raise his hand for a shake.

"How about you tell Lex she won and I passed out before her." I suggest.

"Why?" He asks putting his hands in his coat pocket.

"Just cause."

He stares at me for a while and looks at the damaged forest then heaves a sigh.

"So be it. She'll be the team leader." He agrees.

"Thank you." I slowly get up breathing heavily.

"What happened here?". A man's voice asked in horror.

"I think we have to leave now." Silus said sweat dropping and I nod in agreement.